


Goodbye

by LaurenCrabtree



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: GLaDOS is Not Nice, Gen, IVs, Implied/Referenced Isolation, Implied/Referenced Starvation, Manipulative GLaDOS, Stabbing, Test Subject!Reader, Zero Gravity Chambers, gender neutral reader, scalpels, throat slitting, touch-starved reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 17:39:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19155772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaurenCrabtree/pseuds/LaurenCrabtree
Summary: After being isolated in a zero-gravity chamber for four days, you are completely touch-starved. GLaDOS has a test prepared for you to rectify that, but it’s a rather painful one.





	Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Bad Things Happen Bingo; scrap-patch requested GLaDOS x Reader + Touch-Starved. If you want to request a fic or just chat, you can find me on Tumblr at @laurencrabtree and on Twitter at @LaurenTheCorgi.

“Ouch!”

 

The exclamation escaped your lips despite having felt the intermittent IV drip for at least four days. That is, you thought it had been four days; time was difficult to gauge while suspended in a zero-gravity chamber with no clocks or natural light. Either way, you still hadn’t gotten used to the feeling of the fluids being injected.

 

As the pinch of pain faded, you wondered for what had to be the millionth time how long you would be kept here. Surely complete isolation wasn’t the most important thing that Aperture could be putting you through. The answer was still the same: you didn’t know. You also didn’t know what to do in the meantime; you had exhausted everything from counting to singing to reciting the alphabet backwards in French skipping every other letter. You wracked your brain for anything else you could do, but still came up blank. The wracking was completely unnecessary, though, for not two seconds later, a panel in the ceiling slid open and from it came the AI that had put you here.

 

“GLaDOS.” You glanced up at her, your voice falsely cordial. If she wanted to be condescending, you could at least beat her to it.

 

“Let’s skip the pleasantries,” she replied. “I’d like to cut to the chase. And in this case, I mean that rather literally.” As she spoke, a robotic arm attached to her extended towards you. The business end of it was incredibly sharp; you guessed that it was some kind of scalpel. You tensed up as it drew closer, but you didn’t let yourself scream; better to give her as little material to make fun of as possible. Keeping your gaze fixed on her, you braced yourself for the inevitable, piercing pain.

 

But it didn’t come—at least, not at first. What did come was the chilling sensation of metal on skin- touching only as light as it could. Under any other circumstances, such a sensation wouldn’t have been a problem, but having not been touched in four days, the sensation felt amplified a thousand fold to you. It sent shivers up your spine and chilled you to the core, and before you knew it, your shivering had caused you to arch your back and pierce your own abdomen with the knife. You cried out, and as your scream faded, it gave way to GLaDOS’s cruel laughter.

 

“Oh, relax; it’s your fault you got stabbed. Here, I’ll remove it.” Slowly, you felt the scalpel withdraw from your flesh, and it quickly went out of your field of vision. You had a feeling, however, that it was still nearby.

 

That suspicion was soon confirmed; you felt the same cold sensation on the sole of your foot and once again couldn’t keep from twitching and impaling yourself.

 

“You humans just don’t learn, do you? If I were you, I’d hold still from here on out.”

 

You gritted your teeth at the AI’s words; how she could be this diabolical was beyond you. You did as she suggested, trying to hold still as the scalpel was withdrawn again, but your touch-deprived body still reacted the same way when the cruel instrument touched your upper arm.

 

“You know,” GLaDOS said, “if I didn’t enjoy this process so much, I’d maybe consider letting you explore the more positive aspects of being touch-starved. I’d imagine that swimming or being wrapped in a blanket would be a whole new kind of experience for you.” As she spoke, your breath hitched in your throat as you saw her raising the scalpel to your neck.

 

“Unfortunately for you, you’re not my only test subject. I’ll save those sensations for the others.”

 

Time seemed to pass glacially as the silver instrument inched closer and closer to your throat, but the inevitable flinch that followed was quick as lightning. Her laughter echoed in your ears once again, and as your neck rushed forward to meet the blade, the last thing you heard from her was one condescending word.

 

“Goodbye.”

 

She said it as though you were leaving a casual dinner out, not your own life, and as your consciousness slipped away, you had a feeling that this was indeed a casual activity for her. The thought infuriated you to no end, and while you tried to cry out at her, the only result was a strained, choking cough. Resignedly, you closed your eyes; if you couldn’t fight back, you at least wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing you struggle aimlessly. Your time at Aperture and on Earth was done, and while you knew that your tormentor probably wouldn’t cease her sadism entirely, you at least could leave her with something to think about as she recorded your last moments. Working up every nerve you had, you managed to whisper something back to her. It was hoarse and quiet, but you tried your best to fill the echoing word with contempt. 

 

“Goodbye.”


End file.
